How does crisis fatigue affect a generation expressing declining trust towards public institutions? What would happen if another major health crisis broke out? How can public health cut through the noise in a media landscape saturated with misinformation? This paper seeks to understand how the Generation Z (Gen Z) experience of growing up with crisis media impacts interaction with health crisis and risk communications, and how to adapt existing frameworks to consider this emergent phenomenon. Building off research contextualized by the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation of this study was developed around concepts of information overload and message fatigue. Analysis was conducted on existing health communication frameworks, social media campaigns from public health authorities in British Columbia, online discourse around crisis fatigue, and survey data on Gen Z’s mental health and media consumption habits. This study hopes to open inquiry into current health crisis and risk communication frameworks, with the goal of reassessing guidance to consider novel phenomenon experienced by younger generations.
